Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1887-04-08

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ed with the instruments, and kept
them Gathering in q warning man.
: ner.
Finally the terror-stricken aeronaut
opened his eyes for a moment, and
glanced wildly about him. The dense
clouds were almost impenetrable, and
from his brilliantly lighted car they
appeared as black as night The
heavy thunder was rolling above, be-
low, and on all sides of the balloon,
making the very air tremble with its
loud reverberations. But high above
his head an awful sight met his gaze.
The electric fluid had set the fine silk
bag on fire, and the long flames were
leaping up the silken ropes like so
many demons. In another moment
the terrible explosion would oc-
cur.
There was q brief moment of awful
stiffness. The storm seemed to abate
suddenly to await the coming event.
Even the wind stopped its fearful on
ward flight, and gave the balloon a
chance to right itself before it was
torn to pieces by the exploding gas.
The lull in the storm gave it chance
to descend, and, quickly answering to
the force of gravitation, the enormous
mass of silk sank rapidly. while the
bright flame of fire leaped higher
Mitchell became nearly unconscious
under the terrible strain and he felt q
dizzy, unaccountable sensation steal
ing over his frame. Then a terrible
jar seemed to shake him; he felt Sc
we're pain in his head, and sank into
unconsciousness.
1t was mid day when the unfortun-
ate aeronaut again opened his eyes,
and the hot rays of the sun were beat.
ing mercilessly down upon his hatless
head. AS his senses gradually re-
turned to him he stared intently about
him. The blue vault of heaven sur
rounded him on every side, and as
far away as he could see the same un-
changing view greeted his staring
eyes. Not cloud was visible, nor
any signs of a storm. He raised
himself on his elbow, and immediate
ly sank back with a eroan. A terri
BILE cash ran across his left cheek.
from which the blood was trickling
freely. His left arm was severely
wrenched in its socket, and one hand
badly cut. He lay upon his back for
moment, and tried to remember
what had happened to him. The ter
rible scene in the thunder-cloud then
rushed across his mind again, and he
shuddered with horror.
1t was with difficulty that he turn.
Sd his head to one side and surveyed
his surroundings, He was resting
upon a narrow surface of rocks, which
could not be over twenty square feet
in area at the utmost. Beyond the
edge he could not see, and his narrow
horizon seemed to fade away gradual
ly into vague obscurity. - With ex-
cruciating pain he worked his way to-
ward the edge of his rocky bed, and.
peered over. An almost perpendicu-
lar descent of q thousand feet was
presented to his view, and the earth
beneath was shut out by thick cloud
which seemed to rest on the side of
the mountain. He grew dizzy with
fright at the scene, and rolling him.
self back, he uttered a groan of de-
spair.
For hours he remained motionless,
staring blankly up at the sky; and
then a calm and gentle sleep stole
over him. The sun sank to rest in
the west, and night once more shut
in the world.
The morning brought new life and
strength to the almost dead explorer
and scientist. .He succeeded in bind
ing up his painful wounds, and stop
ped the flow of blood; then he rose
unsteadily to his feet, and crawled to
the other edge of his rocky bed. Here
a different sight met his eyes. The
descent was just as steep as on the
other side, but fifty feet below was
long even plateau, which appeared to
be the summit of a chain of noun
tains. AS far as his vision could ex-
tend, nothing but mountains We're
visible, topped by this narrow plateau.
But how to reach the secure landing
was question that the inventor could
not solve. AS far as be could dis
cover, he had been landed on the sum-
NIT of one of the highest peaks of
chain of mountains, and was cut off
from escape by the perpendicular des-
cent of the sides.
Like Gagged animal, he walked
around and around his narrow prison,
surveying the country on every side,
and looking for some means of escape
The thought of remaining on the
rocky summit until starvation sho uld
come caused his brain to whirl, and
in his desperation be shouted loudly
for help. But his voice was
merely echoed among the noun
tains, and returned to him as is in de-
rision. A large bird of flight circled
in the air just above his head, and
seemed to regard the castaway with
furious glances, The fierce inhabi-
tant of the mountain SUBMITS was
looking for its prey, and it appeared
10 be undecided as to whether it
ahould attack the only human being
that ever approached it's home
Mitchell could not endure the sight
of the ravenous bird, and picking up
small stone, he hurled it with all his
might at the large eagle. With
wild scream the bird circled high
up in the air, but still watched the
man intently with its cleaning eyes
Maddened at this, the wounded man
attempted to tear up larger stone
from the edge of the cliff, when his
attention was attracted by an object
hanging over the sides of the peak
1t was the wrecked balloon
The thrill of joy that shot through
the mans soul, as he beheld the half
burnt aerial car hanging by single
rope within his reach, can be better
imagined than described. With ner-
vous haste he seized the silken cords
and carefully pulled the wrecked mass
up on the summit of the peak. 1t
was in a terrible condition. The
Co., H.I .kI